Library Guides: Journalism 1 (Statistics)

Judy House, Instructor
Developed by Gina Haycock, Librarian

REFERENCE BOOKS WITH STATISTICS:

Statistical Abstract of the United States Call# R317.3 Un58
World Almanac And Book of Facts Call# R371.3 W927
Statistical Handbook on Adolescents in America Call# R305.235 S797

SEARCHING FOR STATISTICS IN PERIODICAL INDEXES AND DATABASES:

CQ Researcher is a company that creates a database of original reports concerning current and controversial topics. The reports are generally unbiased and  almost always have statistics and other brief facts. Look for the statistics in the "Overview" section of the report. The reports average 25 pages in length.

InfoTrac  is a periodical index database that works well when using a subject search. When entering a subject search, you can use broad terms, because the index will automatically help to narrow the search. This index is not completely full-text.  When doing a subject search in this database, there often will be a subdivision, "demographics," of the main topic.

Academic Abstracts is a periodical index database that works well when using a key-word search. When entering a key-word search, you need to use precise words and the more words you add, the narrower the search becomes. This index is not completely full-text. An example of a search for statistics in the this database would be:

             Example:                       teen pregnancy and SU statistics

SIRS (Social Issues Research Series) is a database of full-text articles from magazines and newspapers with emphasis on current and controversial topics. It can be searched by key word or subject. After doing either a subject or key word search in this database, the result list page will have an option for Graphics. Click on that link to see what statistics are given. An example of the result page showing the possibility of 22 statistics is below:

Fresno Bee and Los Angeles Times are databases that provide access to the full-text articles of these two newspapers from 1985 forward. These databases are particularly good for finding information concerning the San Joaquin Valley and the rest of California. In these indexes in Advanced Search you can do an index search for statistics as in the following example:

Lexis/Nexis is a database that provided access to full-text articles from newspapers across the nation and some international newspapers. It is also an excellent source for finding specific court cases.
If you are seeking population statistics for a particular country or state, go to Reference and select either Country Profiles or State Profiles. Enter the country name or state name in the text box. The results retrieved will include recent population estimates. If you are seeking information about population trends in the U.S., go to Business and choose the Business Directories & Reference search form. Select "The American Marketplace" and enter population trends in the text box. An example from Lexis/Nexis is as follows:

SEARCHING FOR STATISTICS ON THE WEB:

Subject Directories  - A subject directory is a catalog of sites collected and organized by humans. Subject directories are often called subject "trees" because they start with a few main categories and then branch out into subcategories, topics, and subtopics.  Because humans organize the websites in subject directories, you can often find a good starting point if your topic is included. Directories are also useful for finding information on a topic when you don't have a precise idea of what you need.  Examples are as follows:

Internet by Subject - Statistics and Demographics    http://www.cos.edu/library/subject/statistics.htm

The Librarians Index to the Internet    http://lii.org/pub/topic/222

Yahoo Statistics    http://dir.yahoo.com/Reference/Statistics/

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This page was created October 18, 2005. This page was last updated: 04/25/2008
For questions and comments, please mail to: ginah@cos.edu